Immaculate Conception of BVM (4) – Pius IX and the Definition1
In the name of the Father …
God ineffable … having foreseen from all eternity the lamentable wretchedness of the entire
human race which would result from the sin of Adam … from the very beginning, and before time began
… chose and prepared for his only-begotten Son a mother in whom the Son of God would become
incarnate … [T]his mother, ever absolutely free of all stain of sin, all fair and perfect, would possess
that fullness of holy innocence and sanctity than which, under God, one cannot even imagine anything
greater, and which, outside of God, no mind can succeed in comprehending fully.
Thus begins the Apostolic Constitution Ineffábilis Deus of Blessed Pius IX defining the dogma
of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1854. Cardinal Giovanni Maria Mastai
Ferretti had ascended to the papal throne eight years earlier in tumultuous times. Spurred on by the
French Revolution, secret societies were plotting against the Church to bring about their secular agenda
- the elimination of (the supernatural and the transcendent) from history and the so-called liberation of
humanity. Indeed the most audacious of those societies hoped to have a Roman Pontiff do their work
for them.
Coming from a family with liberal tendencies, Pius' first acts as pontiff - granting amnesty to
political prisoners and exiles, freedom to the press - had the revolutionaries rejoicing. Indeed, many
thought that a pontificate finally had come to unite Church and Revolution, or rather subordinate the
Church to the Revolution. The revolutionaries shamelessly lauded and exploited Pius' well-intentioned
initiatives for their own ends, in the process creating the myth of a liberal pope.
In fact the Pope – as temporal ruler of the Papal States and a good father – was determined to
bring to the state's administration the remedies which the times demanded. But he had also undertaken
reforms in the hope of correcting and mollifying the revolutionaries. His decisions had the opposite
effect however: intent on their agenda, the revolutionaries simply increased their demands and protests.
In 1848, the second year of his pontificate, revolution quickly spread across Europe and the Pope was
overtaken by events. Indeed, Pius was even invited to lead the revolution. He could not. His refusal was
seen as a betrayal, and the revolutionaries turned against him. The situation deteriorated, and Pius was
forced to abandon the Papal States, fleeing Rome.
In exile, Pius denounced the revolution and excommunicated its leaders, an initiative which was
met with insults and blasphemies. Indeed Pius decried that Rome, the principal seat of the Catholic
Church ... had become … a jungle full of … apostates, heretics … animated by the most terrible hatred
1 Much of the information in this sermon is taken from: Roberto de Mattei, Blessed Pius IX (Gracewing, Herefordshire
UK), 2004.
of Catholic truth … dedicated to … the teaching and dissemination of pestilent errors of all kinds, and
to the corruption of the hearts and minds of all, with the intention that, in Rome itself – as if this were
possible – the Catholic faith will collapse.
A Catholic alliance restored Pius to Rome after a year in exile, whereupon the Pope introduced
the much-needed reforms. The most important work to which he devoted himself with all his strength
for the rest of his thirty-two-year long reign, however, was the struggle against secularization and the
revolution.
While in exile, the Pope had been contemplating the agitated waves of the Mediterranean sea
and reflecting on the storm which was shaking the Church, when Cardinal Lambruschini approached:
Most blessed Father, you can heal the world only with a proclamation of the the dogma of the
Immaculate Conception. This dogmatic definition alone can re-establish the scene of the truths of
Christianity and draw minds back from the ways of naturalism in which they have lost their way.
To us, the cardinal's suggestion might seem somewhat out of touch with reality. Surely it would
be better to find a political solution, to dialogue. Pius, however, already had seen the bitter fruits of
opening the Church's windows to the modern world. Moreover, the cardinal's suggestion was very
much consonant with Pius' own thinking: he believed that the revolution's purpose was to eradicate
Christianity and to establish a universal, egalitarian republic. Moreover, for Pius, politics could not be
separated from religion. His political vision was based on a great theology of history, the struggle
between revelation and revolution founded in that enmity between the woman and the serpent, destined
to divide humanity implacably into two.
To understand the Pope's thought and the cardinal's suggestion, one must recognize that
contemporary errors – the principles of modern society - are founded on the negation of sin, and
particularly Original Sin; that naturalism, materialism, the revolution – these are the social organization
of sin; that the devil was creation's first revolutionary, throwing off God's order; that the radical
antagonism between the Church and the Revolution has its roots precisely in the disorder of the
passions, themselves the fruit of the sin of fallen man.
The great Spanish thinker, Donóso Cortés, observed that it was no coincidence that the Pope
connected the promulgation of the dogma with a condemnation of modern errors: The negation of
original sin is one of the fundamental dogmas of the revolution. To claim that man did not fall by
original sin means denying that man has been redeemed. To claim that man has not been redeemed
means denying the mystery of the redemption and the Incarnation … To claim that the human will
remains naturally intact and not to recognize the existence of sin and evil means denying the
sanctifying action of God on man.
The definition of the Immaculate Conception, therefore - far from just as an academic exercise must be seen in its historical context, as manifesting Pius' conviction of a relationship between the
Mother of God and human history, in particular the privilege of her Immaculate Conception as the
antidote to contemporary error based on the negation of Original Sin. As the Pope observed: The
greatness of this privilege confutes those who deny that human nature was corrupted by the first sin
and who amplify the powers of human reason in order to deny or diminish the benefits of revelation.
Indeed, the relative necessity of the definition as a “supernatural” solution to an infernal
problem was ratified from heaven when the revolution reached its ugliest incarnation in Russia, so that
the Mother of God came to Lucia, the only surviving Fatima seer, with a request - which might seem
somewhat out of touch with reality - to ask for the consecration to her Immaculate Heart of Russia, to
prevent the spread of its errors throughout the world, i.e., the spread of a revolution rooted in ... the
lamentable wretchedness of the entire human race which would result from the sin of Adam ... and …
animated by the most terrible hatred of Catholic truth ... dedicated to ... the teaching and dissemination
of pestilent errors of all kinds, and to the corruption of the hearts and minds of all, with the intention
that the Catholic faith will collapse. It is a consecration for which we still wait: it will come – we have
her word for it - but it will be late. Perhaps when we have another pontiff with the courage and vision
of Pius IX.
When that consecration comes though, would that it be as glorious as that December day in
1854 when fifty thousand people crowded into St Peter's basilica. Accompanied by cardinals and
bishops from all over the world, Pius processed to the papal altar to celebrate Holy Mass. After the
gospel had been sung in Latin and Greek, the Dean of the college of cardinals prostrated himself at the
Pontiff's feet and asked for the decree which ... will be the cause of great joy in heaven and of great
enthusiasm on earth. After intoning the Veni Creator, the pope - wearing the triple tiara showing him to
be king, priest and prophet - sat on his throne to read the definition. Everyone present affirmed that, at
this solemn moment, the Pope was illuminated by an extraordinary light which admitted of no natural
explanation and which showed his face covered in tears. As the Pontiff himself later confided: When I
started to announce the dogmatic decree, I felt my voice incapable of making itself audible to the
immense multitude of people … But when I got to the formula of the definition itself, God gave his vicar
such strength and supernatural vigor that it resounded throughout the whole basilica. I was so
overwhelmed by this divine succor that I was obliged to suspend my speech for a moment in order to
give free flow to my tears.
Regaining himself, the Pontiff pronounced the definition which was to excite such extraordinary
enthusiasm in the Catholic world, demonstrating how alive was the sentiment of faith in a century
ravaged by secularism, rationalism and naturalism – a definition which resounded throughout the world
as an insuperable obstacle to the serpent and his seed, to the revolution and its pretentions.
Wherefore, in humility and fasting, we unceasingly offered our private prayers as well as the
public prayers of the Church to God the Father through his Son, that he would deign to direct and
strengthen our mind by the power of the Holy Spirit. In like manner did we implore the help of the
entire heavenly host as we ardently invoked the Paraclete. Accordingly, by the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, for the honor of the Holy and undivided Trinity, for the glory and adornment of the Virgin
Mother of God, for the exaltation of the Catholic Faith, and for the furtherance of the Catholic
religion, by the authority of Jesus Christ our Lord, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our
own: We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin
Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty
God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all
stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by
all the faithful.
O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
Blessed Pius IX, pray for us.
In the name of the Father …